DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!

Jordan Haskins, 24, is Michigan Republicans' best hope for the open state House seat in Saginaw in November, but he's burdened by a teenage past of being "young and stupid," he told the Saginaw News in June. Haskins has been in prisons in two states (and is still on parole) stemming from trespassing and breaking-and-entering charges yearly from 2006-'11, most involving vehicles he used for sex (by himself). "I was in a messed-up state of mind, mentally and emotionally," he said, but now is proud of the man he has become. "You may not respect my policies [or] my ideas, but you at least have to respect me as a person."